The Kabilang-bilangan Reef in Brgy Sicaba, Cadiz City, Negros Occidental, where four people drowned on Sunday will be off limits to excursionists, Cadiz Mayor Salvador Escalante said Monday, August 29.
However, fishermen and Batay Dagat personnel will be allowed to make stops at the about 3,000-square meter reef, he added.
The mayor decided to declare the reef off limits after what started out as a fun excursion on the tiny Kabilang-bilangan Reef turned into a tragedy for four at 1 p.m. Sunday.
It will be off limits until polices are drawn up and safety measures are put in place, he said.
Mack John Aguirre, 15, was swimming in the reef’s waters when he was carried away by strong current prompting his mother Marlyn Delfin Aguirre, 33, to try to rescue him.
When she failed to rescue her son neighbors Remymar Barilea Ocon, 31, and Michael John Jacobo Merabe, 13 , also dove in to help, the mayor said.
All four from Brgy. Zone 1, Cadiz City, Negros Occidental, drowned due to strong currents, Escalante said.
Their two other companions who also tried to help in the rescue were revived, he added.
Escalante said the victims were part of a group of 14 adults who are employees of a local lending firm in Cadiz City and their children.
The area where the drowning happened is not haunted, people just don’t understand that the current there is strong during high tide, the mayor said.
There have been others who have died in the Sicaba waters in the past due to strong current as the area is already part of the Visayan Sea, he said.
A lot of people go to the Kabilang-bilangan Reef that is about 3,000 to 4,000 square meters in size during low tide because one can enjoy the sandbar and swim, Escalante said.
It is also known as snake reef because it is long and narrow,
During high tide about 80 to 90 percent of the reef is covered by water, he said.
That is why people get on their pumpboat when the tide starts to rise and go home, he said.
The victims and their companions were brought to the reef on a pumpboat by a fisherman at about 7 or 8 a.m. Sunday, and he was to return in the afternoon to get them, the mayor said.
Escalante said the person who brought them to the reef was familiar with the place and should have known not to leave the 14 there.
He said he is looking for the operator of the pumpboat to get an explanation.
It is about two kilometers from Barangay Zone 1 to Kabilang-bilangan Reef, the mayor said.
The mayor said the reef used to be known as Kabinga-bingahan because it has a lot of sea shells called “binga”. However, it was later called Kabilang-bilangan Reef.
Commander Joe Luviz Mercurio, Philippine Coast Guard (PCG)-Northern Negros head, said the boat operator will be answerable for what happened because as far as he knows his vessel has no permit to ferry the public to the area.
“We are still trying to locate the operator and owner of the boat,” he said.*